God Moves People for Redemptive Purposes

In one paragraph

This Sunday's message came from Ken and Lori McEwen, missionaries who have spent decades planting Hispanic churches across Wyoming. Ken walked through what the Bible says about the movement of peoples across the world, and what that means for how we live and who we welcome. Lori added a window into the day-to-day ministry they are doing in communities close to home. Ken opened by sketching the...

Read together

1. Psalm 103 introduced as the source of the opening worship song
2. Matthew 13 the parable of the sower used to introduce the word diaspora
3. Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel) God scattered people across the earth and confused their languages
4. Deuteronomy (scattering warning) Moses warned Israel that unfaithfulness would cause God to scatter them among the nations to serve other gods
5. Ezekiel (scattering of Israel) God said the nations would know He is Lord when He scattered them
6. Ezekiel (scattering of Egyptians) God said He would scatter the Egyptians so they would know He is God
7. Acts 1:8 noted that part of the impulse behind this commission was believers being driven out by persecution
8. Acts 8 (persecution and scattering) persecution after Stephen's death scattered believers who then preached the word everywhere
9. John 1:12 Jesus came to the Jews first, but to all who received Him He gave the right to become children of God
10. Ephesians (spiritual blessings) we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, cited during the offering prayer

Talk about it

1. Ken described the world as having roughly one in ten people who truly follow the Lord, two in ten who call themselves Christians but lack deep faith, four in ten who have heard the gospel and rejected it, and three in ten who have never heard the full gospel message. Which of those groups do you find yourself most naturally drawn to engage with, and why?
2. Ken walked through several biblical examples of God scattering people, sometimes as discipline and sometimes as mercy, and said the scattering of people is under God's sovereign control and redemptive purposes. How does thinking of immigration and displacement as part of God's design change the way you feel about what you see happening in the world around you?
3. Ken told the story of the man who heard someone speaking a foreign language on a cell phone and thought, what is this guy doing here, and then later asked himself what he should have asked instead. When have you caught yourself having that first reaction, and what would it look like to move toward the second?
4. Ken said Americans want to throw money at everything, but that people do not need money as much as they need people with a good testimony, authentic friendship and willingness to get their hands dirty. What does that kind of presence actually look like in your day to day life, and where does it feel hardest to offer it?
5. Ken shared that many of the people he and Lori ministered to over twenty two years eventually went back to their home countries and are now planting ministries and feeding children there. How does that change the way you think about investing time and relationship in someone who may not stay in your community long?